LETTER FROM Michael Carlin
Over 45 years I considered myself a well-rounded, thoughtful, intelligent human being with good intention and self-awareness. Always pushing myself to be the best I can be, I spent considerable time reading and researching different areas of self-improvement including but not limited to personal therapy and Tony Robbins as well as countless business books like Good to Great and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People etc. I founded two multi million dollar firms from scratch and successfully helped fund several other companies the largest of which is currently being sold for a half a billion dollars.
For a career I provide advice, guidance and wisdom and help people achieve their best financial life. I sit on the board of three successful companies and proffer guidance to help them navigate the best path forward. I am used to listening deeply and passionately to people and organizations. I am known for coming up with ways forward that feel genuine and authentic specific to each unique situation. Outside of my daily business life I remained steadfastly focused on my body and trained hard physically while eating well. I measured body fat. I trained and researched the best techniques to maximize my physical results. Playing sports like golf kept me social and connected to the physical world as I am often lost in a digital world during the working day.
Despite the achievements and successes in my life to date, I never fully appreciated or understood my fragile mindset, nor could I interpret a way out until I sought the support of a mental toughness coach. In no way is this is not hyperbole, nor exaggeration. After the first session and extremely quickly I fully realized how lost I was in my own mind, unable to realize a path forward because I couldn’t appreciate what was unbalanced in my life. Even considering all of the work and time spent trying to better myself, I couldn’t grasp the scope of problem until mental toughness coaching put that into perspective. Mental toughness coaching became the framework and lens to view my transformation.
Specific to the amount of time required to experience meaningful and lasting change, the swiftness experienced with mental toughness coaching remained shocking compared to modern convention. I was conditioned to believe in years of talk therapy. I was not prepared to hear family, friends and employees talk about a noticeable difference in me after my first coaching session. I didn’t start up thinking that I would be able to recraft my outlook on relationships and my destiny within a few weeks. Lastly, I never figured to secure the tools to secure the coaching sessions deeply into my subconscious that ensures my short, medium- and long-term success.
Time allows me to reflect on the bevvy of positive outcomes experienced through mental toughness coaching. This is a summary of the many outcomes generated in my experience:
- I feel better about myself. In coaching sessions, I delved deeply into the areas within me that hold me back without wasting time/energy sharing the historical stories that bog down the typical process found in therapy. Time spent crafting a clean and clear version of lies I tell myself and corrected daily truths/mantras to repeat and reapply on a daily basis. These lies altered my mind and natural state of being. My soul elevated and my posture physically improved because I realize I would walk with my head bowed low carrying the weight of my world. Now I walk literally taller and smile easier because I truly feel better about myself.
- Improved relationships. My time with mental toughness coaching revealed a better way to create a healthy relationship inside and outside of work. All of the business books and time spent reading and taking notes do not compare to lessons learned over “agreements vs. expectations.” Not only did my business life improve both immediately and dramatically, but relationships improved substantially as well. I finally understood people in my life better such as deceased Mother, who was the most negative human person I personally knew and also the person who lived life one broken expectation to the next. I saw the twinkle of grace in the way my deceased Father executed agreements and was able to piece together better lessons not taught by my Dad, but rather mental toughness coaching allowed me to see through a clearer window a better way to interact with people. I marvel at the time millions of people will spend in a therapists chair trying to unpack Mom and Dad issues every year. I managed more successful work with him than all the hours of therapy and months talking about my life in the past with others within weeks of mental toughness coaching.
- I sleep better. All the time training my brain to catch, own and upgrade my thoughts throughout the day makes the process easier when I wake up and quickly refocus my brain appropriately and then gently drift back off to sleep. Gone are the days of meandering down to do lists, revenue estimates, missed calls and unrealistic fears to tease my brain awake. One can never know or appreciate how mentally strong or weak you might be until you harness the power to redirect your mind to fall back asleep. If you think about it, I believe mental toughness coaching could do more for sleep than all the promises made by Sleep Number, Temperapedic, and deluxe sheet manufacturers from around the world.
- I am fearless. Engaging in difficult conversations is something I thought was an accomplishment if/when I managed to carry off in the past. Now I don’t think things like conversations are ever difficult because that is a negative. It just is at worst, and at best the conversation is an opportunity. The same situation I would approach with fear and trepidation, now I approach with enthusiasm. The best part about being fearless as I have learned that it just takes mental practice. I get my reps daily. It carries through to everything including especially being fearless.
- I am more creative. Literally as soon as I would leave a coaching class with my mind flowing wide open creative genius flowed forth. I learned that putting my mind in the right state opens up the creative process and I have concrete proof of this cause and effect. The single greatest idea of my business life sprung forth loudly and dramatically changed the direction and future profitability of my firm. I am thankful for the knowledge and skill set to unlock my creative power. The fact that this new idea that launched forth will uncover massive revenue and profitability paid for the cost of mental toughness coaching thousands and thousands of times over. In fact, I literally couldn’t afford to NOT do coaching with the new lines of business coaching opened up.
- I have real gratitude. I have never been the kind of person to appreciate the weather, a cloud formation or the simple greeting of a dog. With coaching I learned to slow down my thoughts and find focus on little details normally left behind amidst a cloudy melee of thoughts about a busy work day and future to-do list. Frankly I believed it was a waste of time and perhaps even a sign of weakness to be so thankful throughout the day. No I understand it’s power and with coaching I have the ability to implement this long term. Best way I can sum this up – It’s as if I have the ability to see colors that I didn’t previously know existed.
- I am a better partner. In part communication. In part “living clean.” In part appreciation where I would previously see just flaws.
- I am a better Father. I have the right tools to teach my kids the most valuable lessons about life that are never taught.
My experience on mental toughness coaching should make it abundantly clear that these teachings can help you evolve, but it comes with effort. Miraculous and epic changes are available that are directionally set by coaching, and made possible with determination and focus. These lessons will improve you life in virtually every facet. The realization of my internal sadness, relative depression without understanding my present state left me looking for options, searching for anything to help make lasting change. Thanks to coaching I am fully awake now, working diligently on my new skills and looking forward to a comprehensively better life moving forward.
In the time it takes to read and hear this story about my life, steps can be taken now to make these enhancements to your life – it’s all about running, not walking towards a better destiny made possible through mental toughness coaching.